Gaming Hacks for Geeks, Part 1

Editor's note: In this two-part series, Gaming Hacks author Simon Carless has selected two hacks for your gaming pleasure. This week, Simon says, if you don't like your world, change it with this hack by Michael Zenke on writing MMORPG macros. Next week, Simon will show you how to create your own animations. Needless to say, Simon's got game.

Hack #32: Write MMORPG Macros

Turn tedious sequences of commands into click-and-forget aliases.

Like real life, MMORPG play has its moments of repetitive tedium (especially
while you’re grinding—“Grind Without Going Crazy” [Hack
#30]). Fortunately,
computers are very good at doing repetitive tasks; they rarely slip
up and never complain. Many modern MMORPGs offer macro features to
help you record and play back long sequences of events; Star Wars Galaxies
and Final Fantasy XI are two examples of this phenomenon. In particular,
Galaxies includes good macro features to automate your gaming experience.

Star Wars Galaxies Macros

In order to access the macros menu, hit Ctrl-A or the small firework symbol
on your menu bar. This will open the actions menu, on which the macros tab hangs.
To start a new macro, hit the New Macro button. Give the macro a name, choose
an icon that represents it, and type the macro into the text box.

WARNING: Capitalization counts in commands. If your macro doesn’t behave properly,
double-check your spelling, capitalization, and semicolons. To refer to other
macros or to loop self-referentially, a macro must call a slot in the User Interface
toolbar. Grab your toolbar and drag it to encompass two rows so that you have
as many slots as possible for actions and macros.

To refer to a toolbar slot, use the call /ui action toolbarSlotxx, where xx
is the number of the slot. Keep in mind that the first slot in the upper right
corner is slot 00, not 01. The last slot in the lower left is slot 23.

Now that you know how to define macros, let’s explore some useful ones.

Bleed pull. This macro can begin combat with an accurate shot that will
cause your opponent to bleed health over time:

AFK combat. You can grind on combat and scouting without being at the
keyboard. Your first task is to find a place to run the macro. Choose a lowrisk
location far from other players. This macro won’t differentiate between
unclaimed creatures and those already under attack by others, so this is a
highly antisocial macro.

The macro targets the nearest creature and moves you toward it. In order to
stay in the same location, move the camera directly above your character,
and use your options menu to increase your field of view to its maximum:

To use this macro for an extended session, place a series of crafting tools
on
the toolbar. Refer to these tools in turn at the start of the macro. The macro
will choose the schematic you want to create. See the datapad for the number
of the appropriate schematic. The macro then pauses for eight seconds,
during which you must click furiously to fill the schematic slots with
resources. The macro then moves through the next screens and finishes the
product as a practice item. This will give you the XP for the item (with a
slight bonus) without actually creating the item.

For an extended crafting session, duplicate this macro and refer to the next
example of the macro on the UI toolbar in the last line.

AFK entertainer. Combine the following macro with another macro referencing
several dancing or music flourishes (labeled flourishrun here)
to gain
Entertainer XP without attending to your character. Remember to start this
macro in a cantina. Replace startdance with startmusic as necessary.

Final Fantasy XI Macros

FFXI macros are much more basic than their SWG counterparts. These macros
are simple ways to improve the combat experience of soloing and grouping.
Each character has 20 available macro slots. To access the macros on a
PC, hit Alt or Ctrl to bring up the two sets of 10 slots. On the PS2, hit R2
or
L2. To edit them, select a macro slot and choose Edit. To access a macro in
combat, hit Ctrl or Alt and the number of the macro you wish to use.

These examples, while specific to Final Fantasy XI and Star Wars Galaxies,
are just a small selection of your options. EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot,
and World of Warcraft also have macro systems of limited degrees with
their own specific syntaxes and quirks.

Of course, you can also produce macros using third-party programs. UOCurse,
a third-party, text-based Ultima Online hack, is one such tool. A host of other
programs bring results both legitimate and, much more often, illegitimate. Not
only do most MMOG players consider them immoral, they often violate Terms of
Service agreements. If the publisher catches you, they can ban you and may even
seek legal relief against you. For most simple
tasks, internal macroing should be more than enough to assist you.